Western Stars
Western Stars
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| Western Stars | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by Bruce Springsteen | |
| Released | June 14, 2019 |
| Recorded | 2010, 2014, 2018–2019[1] |
| Studio | Stone Hill, Colts Neck, New Jersey; Ocean Studios, Burbank, California; Very Loud House, Woodland Hills, California; Avatar, New York City; Sage and Sound, Hollywood, California |
| Genre | Roots rockfolk rock[2]country rock[3]orchestral pop[4]country pop[5] |
| Length | 51:00 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Producer | Ron Aniello, Bruce Springsteen |
| Bruce Springsteen chronology | |
| Springsteen on Broadway (2018)Western Stars (2019)Letter to You (2020) | |
| Singles from Western Stars | |
| “Hello Sunshine” Released: April 26, 2019″There Goes My Miracle” Released: May 17, 2019″Tucson Train” Released: May 30, 2019″Western Stars” Released: June 14, 2019 |
Western Stars is the nineteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 14, 2019, by Columbia Records. It was produced by Ron Aniello, who worked with Springsteen on his two previous albums: Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014).
The album was a chart success in the United States—where it became Springsteen’s 20th top-10 album—and abroad. It was also met with widespread acclaim from critics, who found the music elegiac and evocative of the American West.
A full performance of the album was filmed and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The soundtrack of this movie (Western Stars – Songs from the Film) has an almost identical track list and was released in September 2019.
Contents
- 1Background
- 2Marketing
- 3Critical reception
- 4Track listing
- 5Personnel
- 6Charts
- 7Certifications
- 8Film
- 9References
- 10External links
Background[edit]
Springsteen stated in April 2019 that the album was influenced by “Southern California pop music” of the 1970s, including artists such as Glen Campbell and Burt Bacharach. Upon announcing the album in April 2019, he called it “a return to my solo recordings featuring character-driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements”, with a press release characterizing it as about a “range of American themes, of highways and desert spaces, of isolation and community and the permanence of home and hope”.[6]
Marketing[edit]
“Hello Sunshine” was released on April 26, 2019, as the album’s lead single, along with a music video.[7] “There Goes My Miracle” was released as the album’s second single on May 17.[8][9] The album’s third single, “Tucson Train”, was released on May 30, along with a music video directed by Thom Zimny.[10] A music video for the album’s fourth single, “Western Stars”, also directed by Zimny, was released on June 14. A limited edition 7″ vinyl double A-side single, featuring “Western Stars” and “The Wayfarer”, was released on Black Friday Record Store Day on November 29, 2019.[11]
Western Stars was released by Columbia on June 14, 2019.[12] The following week, it debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 66,000 album-equivalent units sold, of which 62,000 were pure album sales. It is Springsteen’s 20th US top 10 album.[13]
A documentary film, which marked Springsteen’s directorial debut and features a full performance of the album, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019, with a wide theatrical release in October 2019 along with an accompanying soundtrack for the film. Springsteen did not tour for the album and announced that he would shift focus towards recording a new studio album with the E Street Band in the fall of 2019.[14][15]
Critical reception[edit]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.0/10[16] |
| Metacritic | 84/100[17] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [18] |
| The A.V. Club | B−[19] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A−[20] |
| The Guardian | [21] |
| The Independent | [22] |
| The Irish Times | [23] |
| NME | [24] |
| Pitchfork | 7.8/10[25] |
| Q | [26] |
| Rolling Stone | [27] |
Western Stars was met with
